Artist: Small Million
Album: Passenger
Label: Tender Loving Empire
Release date: September 1, 2023
Self-discovery is not a solo pursuit. Small Million’s new ballad "Lightswitch" explores our limitless potential to grow and change when we inhabit our darkest places… with help.
“This song was inspired by my own experience with chronic pain and transforming my relationship with my body. It’s humbling to realize you can’t heal yourself alone, but as it turns out, no one can. An excellent therapist, a great lover, a friend who tells you the unvarnished truth— people who see you clearly, point the way, and trust you to run with it. If we’re lucky they’ll let us do the same for them.”
You have overshared to a stranger in a bar bathroom; your back is killing you because of everything you haven’t said; you’ve overwatered your houseplants again. Small Million is here for you.
Passenger, the new album from the Portland-based indie-pop outfit, welds deeply affecting sonic production to smart lyrics about intuition and inhibition; losing control and ending up in unexpected places; being willing to fuck up; bodies hurt and bodies joyful. In the time since the band's last release, years of chronic pain have led lead vocalist and lyricist Malachi Graham to deep explorations of embodiment that have changed everything from her singing voice to her dance moves to her observation of human frailty. “There’s one side of chronic pain that leads you towards intuition, self-discovery, and listening closely to yourself. But it also means you end up sitting on the side of the room a lot, watching people and paying attention,” notes Graham. "Also, you’re pissed." Producer and instrumentalist Ryan Linder centers these intense emotions in his rich textured cinematic production. The effect is both intimate and epic, delicate and fierce. Listen to it to ache, dance to it to heal.
Passenger will be out September 1, 2023 on Tender Loving Empire. Pre-order HERE.
Linder’s background as a filmmaker informs the textured richness and intelligent restraint of his song building. He approaches production with obsessive technical rigor that’s always in service of centering intense emotion. Graham’s clear, unadulterated vocals breathe at the heart of Linder’s rich sonic terrain, drawing comparisons to The Cranberries and Florence + the Machine.
Linder and Graham have been writing as a duo for a decade, but for their newest chapter they've expanded the band, enlisting Ben Tyler (Small Skies) on drums and Kale Chesney (Lo Pony) on bass and harmonies. Small Million's evolution into a four-piece has expanded the band’s sound from their synth pop origins to encompass more organic, raw indie rock energy.
Small Million has played with artists like Fakear, IDER, Hatchie, HÆLOS, Lo Moon, and Loch Lomond, and their tracks have been featured on compilations by Tender Loving Empire, PDX Pop Now!, and Vortex Music Magazine. They released their debut EP Before the Fall in June 2016, their follow-up, Young Fools, in Fall 2018, and singles “Saintly” and “Tarot” in 2019.
"In the sparse synths and deeply emotive vocals, the duo found a universal language in their shared love of melody and emotion.” — Willamette Week
“The synthpop duo's sound is innovative and darkly captivating, capable of pulling audiences in with pop-accessible hooks only to keep them around for the scintillating stories and sounds that come with them.”
— PopMatters
"Un duo synth-pop a peu de chances de vous laisser de marbre."
— Rolling Stone France
"This Portland duo push and pull each other in their songs, and you can feel the chemistry between them as you drift away..." — Alternative Press